Catching some Z’s

A resident took this portrait of a sleeping SAPD officer, parked two feet from a curb, his motor running.

It must have been a lovely place for a nap.

When Jason Peters walked up to an idling SAPD patrol car at the end of a street in his Northeast Side subdivision, he expected to see a cop writing a report or talking on the phone.

But the officer, head back and eyes closed, was taking a bit of a snooze. To Peters, who approached close to the car and took several photos, it was a serious issue.

“This is our tax dollars at work,” Peters said. “And not just that, I mean, if I were a thug I could have just walked right up and shot him.”

So Peters, 40, an Army master sergeant, called the police. He also posted the photos on his Facebook page and emailed them to local news organizations.

Peters was impressed with the response. Within 30 minutes, he had two sergeant supervisors from the East Side substation at his house. A police captain emailed him an hour after they left to make sure he knew they were paying attention.

As for the napping officer, Peters said he woke up about two to three minutes after the photos were taken and drove away.

“It is totally unacceptable for an officer to engage in this type of conduct,” Police Chief William McManus said in an emailed statement to reporters. “It is inherently dangerous and goes without saying of what the public expects of an SAPD officer. It will be dealt with accordingly.”